Life After Being Discontinued

As many folks are already aware, Nikon has confirmed that the Nikon 1 system has been discontinued. This isn’t the first time a camera line has been discontinued and it won’t be the last, especially given the fact that the digital camera market continues to shrink in size. Whether you are a current Nikon 1 owner or not, there are some things you can do if you feel your camera gear is at risk of being discontinued, or already has been (Images have been included in this article to create some visual breaks)ю

Don’t Panic Just because a particular camera or camera system gets discontinued doesn’t mean that its capabilities suddenly stop. If you want proof of that, the next time you are out driving in your car have a good look around. You’ll see all kinds of cars on the road made by now-defunct brands. The same thing is true of camera gear. If you were happy with your equipment last week before it was discontinued, nothing from a functionality standpoint has changed, so there’s no reason not to still be happy with it today. As human beings we tend to focus on what we may lose, or the worst that can happen, when change occurs. Most of us react emotionally to change – not rationally.

Re-assess Your Camera Needs

If your photography emphasis has changed it may be a good time to re-assess your camera needs. When camera gear is discontinued by a manufacturer it creates opportunities to both sell, and buy equipment. On one hand, it may be time to change brands or format to something that better meets your current and planned future requirements, or it may be a great time to buy more of what was recently discontinued to help ‘future proof’ your existing kit. Folks considered to be ‘enthusiasts’ tend to change their camera equipment far more often than do professional shooters…and needlessly so. For example, the professional wedding photographer that shot my daughter’s wedding did a superb job with her older gear. She was using three different camera bodies, a pair of Canon full frame DSLRs – the newest of which was about three years old, the second full frame body was about 6 years old, and her oldest camera body, a Nikon D300, had been in service for about a decade. There’s no problem with sticking with what works for you. When re-assessing your camera needs it’s best to keep your emotions in check, and think logically. The sky isn’t falling just because the gear you happen to own has been discontinued.

The Camera Market is in a State of Flux When we look at CIPA data, the overall volumes of digital cameras shipped have continued to fall over the past number of years. The interchangeable lens camera market has stabilized in the 11.5 million unit range the past couple of years, down from over 20 million units in 2012. Fixed lens cameras have continued to drop significantly. For example, in 2012 the number of units shipped was at about 78 million compared to just over 13 million units in 2017. Thus far in 2018 fixed lens cameras are down a further 38% on a year-to-date basis. Major players like Canon and Nikon are moving more into mirrorless cameras, the impact of which is still unknown. All of this points to an industry that is still in a state of flux with all of the manufacturers likely having to make tough decisions in the near future about their product line-ups. Some large industrial conglomerates that dabble in the digital camera market and have brands commanding relatively small market shares may even need to rethink whether it makes sense for them to remain in the digital camera market. This is especially true should we enter into a recessionary economic period globally. If your discontinued gear still meets your needs it may be prudent to keep shooting with it for at least a couple more years. There is some risk that if you sell your discontinued gear now and buy into another system, you may simply be moving from one discontinued gear situation into another, potentially in the near future.

If You Decide to Sell Your Gear, Do Some Research

If you decide to sell your discontinued gear do some online research to see what the current values are for what you own. Typically more recent bodies will command better prices than older models. There will likely be some lenses that will command a bit more of a premium than others as well. When it comes to Nikon 1 gear, the J5, V3 and V2 camera bodies would likely be the ones that most folks looking to add to their kit would want to buy. Another body that could potentially hold its value a bit better than average would be a J4, for those people wanting to use it with the Nikon 1 WP N3 underwater housing. S-Series, older J-Series, and AW-1 bodies will likely not get much attention from potential buyers, unless they have desirable 1 Nikon lenses packaged with them. Make sure to have your shutter count available for would-be buyers. This can be done with various online shutter count websites.

Go to photography chat rooms to discover which lenses are most valued by other owners and use this to assess the marketability of various kit components you may own. For example, the three most popular Nikon 1 lenses are the 6.7-13 mm f/3.5-5.6, 10-100 mm non-PD f/4-5.6, and the CX 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6. These should hold their value quite well. Nikon made three prime lenses for the Nikon 1 system with the 18.5 mm f/1.8 being the most popular lens. Another lens that folks may be looking to purchase is the 30-110 mm f/3.8-5.6 as this lens works particularly well with extension tubes, and is a natural system addition to the 10-30 mm kit zooms. You’ll have to decide if you are going to try to sell your gear as a package, or piece it out. If you piece it out, you should hold out for good pricing on the most popular lenses and bodies as best you can given your timeframe and financial objectives. Since the Nikon 1 system has been discontinued you’ll need to find buyers for it yourself as camera stores likely won’t touch it. Camera clubs, photography chat rooms, Kijiji, and eBay are all avenues that can be pursued.

If You Decide to Keep Shooting with your Discontinued Gear, Add Components Logically It may make sense for you to simply keep shooting with your discontinued gear if it is still the best system for your needs. The first thing you should consider doing is adding camera batteries to your kit as the original equipment ones from your camera’s manufacturer may not be available in the future. About a year ago I started to discover that it was getting harder to find batteries for my Nikon 1 gear so I began to add some batteries whenever I could. Nikon made different batteries for various Nikon 1 bodies which further complicates things and adds some cost, but it is what it is.

The next thing to look at is which lenses you use most often, how critical they are to your kit, and the age/condition of the lenses you currently own. It often makes sense to buy duplicate copies of lenses that are important components in your camera system. For example, in April this year I was able to buy a Nikon certified refurbished CX 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6 lens at a very attractive price. Last year I found a brand new 30-110 mm f/3.8-5.6 being blown out by a camera store. The same thing goes for camera bodies. Over the last couple of years it has been possible to find very good used gear, and some new Nikon 1 bodies, at excellent prices. Over the past couple of years I’ve added V3, V2 and J5 bodies to my kit in this manner. As the supply of new bodies has diminished it seems that prices for the newer Nikon 1 bodies have started to firm up in the used market. Some current owners of discontinued camera gear will over react to the situation and will try to sell their gear as quickly as possible…likely at overly discounted prices. This creates great buying opportunities for other owners of that same equipment who are looking to extend the life of their kit by buying more gear.

If you are looking to purchase a used 1 Nikon CX 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6 be aware that while this lens is stellar in terms of its optical performance, it is a bit more sensitive to ‘bump shocks’ than some other 1 Nikon lenses. It can suffer from lens chatter and may not focus at a specific focal length. I’ve had my original CX 70-300 mm repaired three times under warranty, with the same problem each time, i.e. a lens chatter at around 250 mm that prevented the lens from focusing. My most recent warranty repair ended up with a lens VR unit being replaced. Before buying a used copy of this lens check it out thoroughly and make sure to test the auto-focus performance through the entire focal length range, with special attention to the 240 – 280 mm focal length range. If you own a copy of this lens that is suffering from the lens chatter issue, consider having it repaired so you can get the full functionality of the lens back, as well as increase its value in the used market. When using this lens be sure to be gentle when fully extending it, or retracting it, to minimize internal bumping as the physical limits of the focal length adjustments are reached.

You may want to add a 1 Nikon 10-100 mm f/4-5.6 to your kit, but you may not be able to find one – either new or used – due to the popularity of that lens. You may want to consider the 10-100 mm f/4.5-5.6 PD lens. It is heavier and larger than the non-PD version but is a bit sharper and the VR is a tad more effective. It is also a great lens for video with its power zoom. This lens typically sells for a fraction of its suggested list price as it was never very popular. I bought mine new for $249 a number of years ago. The suggested list on the lens in Canada is $780.

Don’t Discard Inoperable Gear Over time camera bodies and lenses will often fail and may be beyond repair if the manufacturer no longer stocks particular replacement parts. The risk of this happening with discontinued gear is obviously much higher. I suggest keeping inoperable bodies and lenses, if they are duplicates in your kit, as they may serve as sources of replacement parts in the future. This is especially true of camera bodies.

It’s Only an Event – Our Thinking Makes it Good or Bad Having our camera gear discontinued is never anything that someone would wish to happen. Remember that it is just an event. Like other things in life, how we think about it and interpret the event makes it good or bad. I’ll continue shooting with Nikon 1 for many years to come. It is still is the best system for my specific needs both professionally and personally so I have no reason to rush off to change anything. For example, I have a number of eBook projects under development and they will all incorporate images created with Nikon 1 equipment. I have some client video projects booked and all of them will be shot with my trio of Nikon 1 V2s and 1 Nikon prime lenses. I’ve been adding to my kit over time to help ‘future proof’ it as best I can. Life goes on – and while a camera system being discontinued may seem like a tragedy at the time, events like this aren’t even bumps in the road unless we perceive them to be.

Technical Note: All photographs were captured handheld with Nikon 1 gear as per the EXIF data. Images were created from RAW files using my standard process of DxO OpticsPro or PhotoLab, CS6 and the Nik Collection.

Article Copyright 2018 Thomas Stirr. All images Copyright 2017 and 2018 Thomas Stirr. All rights reserved. No use, adaptation or reproduction of any kind is allowed without written permission. Photography Life is the only approved user of this article. If you see this article or any of the images contained in it reproduced anywhere else, it is an unauthorized and illegal use. Posting comments pointing out Copyright infringements on offending websites that steal intellectual content is always appreciated!

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

If you enjoyed reading this article, please consider subscribing to our email newsletter to receive biweekly emails notifying you of the latest articles posted on the website. Email Address First Name

By checking this box I consent to the use of my information, as detailed in the Privacy Policy.

Related articles:

About Thomas Stirr

Thomas Stirr is an author, photographer/videographer, and executive coach based in Grimsby Ontario Canada. He specializes in industrial photography, as well as safety/training/corporate videos. His work also includes landscape and nature photography, and experimentation with photo art. Nikon Canada has featured Tom's work numerous times on Facebook and Twitter. To follow Thomas, please visit his photography blog and check out his eBooks.

Reader Interactions

Comments

Joachim

July 18, 2018 at 11:52 am

I wonder how many people approached the N1 system like I did: Interesting cameras and lenses, I just never convinced myself to pay this kind of money for a tiny sensor, bodies which were coming from designer’s conveyor belt, introducing new features while giving up “old” good features – the V version was just too many toads to swallow.

And where did I see the N1 cameras? Mostly in shopping malls, with finger and other prints from people who grabbed them. Never a charged battery or always an empty one. They felt cheaper than the bill looked like. Nikon should have gone the rent first, pay later way. I’m sure a lot of people could have become convinced if they, if we could have tried the system. FF bodies and lenses are for rent, so I know afterwards if they are worth the money.

It’s no great experience when a manufacturer decides to stop a system. Ask Samsung owners, Minolta comes in mind, Rollei, Olympus 4/3. I guess you see it very different, Thomas, but apparently the soccer moms were less willing to buy in than Nikon hoped.

Hi Joachim, No doubt Nikon made a lot of mistakes with the Nikon 1 system. Some folks, like me, did find the system to be ideal for their needs and I have no regrets at all about buying into the Nikon 1 format. I’ll be using my gear for many years to come. When I sold my D800 and all of my full frame lenses back in July 2015 and decided to shoot with Nikon 1 exclusively I knew there was a risk that the Nikon 1 system could be discontinued someday. I don’t regret that decision for a second, even after this recent news about Nikon 1.

I have gotten great use from my Nikon1 camera. I currently own 2 J3’s with WP-N2 housings for my underwater work. I drowned one body a little while back and picked up a usied one from B&H. I expect I will look to pickup at least one more bosy as a spare for now and a couple of the 10-30mm non-PD lenses that work best in the housing. I have probably taken over 60,000 shots underwater in the past 4 years with the bodies I have.

I also have a J5 and love it for walking around protography with an innocuous looking camera that doesn’t scare people off. I have found it to be outstanding for flower photography using the FT-1 adapter and the Nikkor 40mm DX f/2.8 micro. I never sprung for the 70-300, instead using a spare FX version that I have in my bag. The setup is great and I hope to keep using them for some time to come.

I do believe Nikon did not pay enough attention to this system, but they have been dealing with other issues. I will miss this line but will look to pick up what I need on the used market to keep myself going for a few more years.

I greatly enjoy your posts and your beautiful work with your Nikon1’s. Keep it up! I plan to work mine until they finally give up the ghost.

Thanks for adding to the discussion and sharing your Nikon 1 system experiences! At one point I owned a Nikon 1 J4 with an underwater housing and found it to be a very good combination. I didn’t end up using it as often as I first thought I would so I ended up selling it and reinvesting the money into a J5 instead.

I’m glad you’ve been enjoying my articles here at Photography Life! I only seem to find enough time in my schedule to post here about once a month or so lately. If you want to see more of my work you can visit my photography blog: tomstirrphotography.com

Hi John, Olympus is a very good camera system so I’m sure your needs have been well served! More current Nikon 1 bodies did a better job with the accessibility of external controls…unfortunately those enhancements came too late. Tom

For me I’m concerned with the future of Nikon F mount. I know it sounds dumb because there are millions of lenses out there in F mount. However, assuming the rumored nikon mirrorless full frames (obviously a new mount and new lenses) become more and more popular over time, it does make me wonder about the future of F mount. I know that an adapter will be made, but the question is, will F mount lenses work consistently on them? Especially with sigma and tamron lenses.

I prefer DSLR over mirrorless cameras for many reasons but due to the decline in the DSLR market, it’s a concern to me. Look at what happened to the Sony A mount. Both their camera bodies and lenses are worth scrap metal in the used market. The concern is my existing relatively new DSLR and its lenses will lose lots of value (for sale/trade in for future upgrades) especially if the F mount is destined for demise.

As for the Nikon 1, personally i could see it as a cheap purchase as a vacation camera or sorts, now that it’s officially discontinued. For example, a barely used Nikon J1 with the kit lens fetches only USD $100 in a local store here in my place. It certainly beats buying a brand new $150 point and shoot camera with a tiny sensor as far as image quality is concerned.

Your comment echos many other concerns that I have been hearing over the past 4-6 months as rumours of a Nikon full frame mirrorless camera became more prevalent in the marketplace. I imagine it will likely take a decent amount of time before Nikon mirrorless products displace DSLRs and F-mount lenses. It would make sense that Nikon would make an adaptor for existing F-mount glass so current customers could still use their older lenses on new mirrorless bodies. Timing is often an important factor when selling used camera gear. I ws fortunate back in July 2015 when I sold my D800 and F-mount glass that I did so at a time when Nikon Canada had just hiked prices on bodies and lenses. As a result I was able to get very good prices on my gear. In the future deciding when it may make sense to exit DSLRs will also be a timing issue.

The Nikon 1 system is really terrific travel gear. It is small, light and easy to handle and the lenses are quite decent quality. I agree that picking up a good used body at an attractive price could be a great buy as a travel camera.

hello, I shoot Sony A, and to tell you the truth, I’m not concerned even though it has been declared discontinued for years. My gear works, that is the most important factor and I can vouch that Sony A mount gear is not worthless in the used gear market. Just search for any A mount lens, they are still very expensive and hard to find. Legendary Beearcan is still over $ 100 USD (it is “few decades” old lens), newer lenses are even more expensive. KEH sells used Sony A mount lenses for thousands of dollars and price is not going down, even though I hope it will. Yes, it might be hard or almost impossible to buy new gear in regular stores (I’m Canadian and there are not many store selling Sony A mount), however, used gear is not hard to find. Some people will rush to sell, if Nikon ever decides do discontinue their F- mount (which I doubt) and with millions of lenses and bodies, their prices will go down. We don’t need to start panicking anytime companies decide to discontinue their product – our gear will continue to work, if something happens, well – use market will never disappoint.

I very enjoyably used the Nikon V1 for about a year, but had to swap brands because a lot of my work is in poorly lit stage event venues. I went to Fuji, initially the X-E2 and then then X-T20, and could hardly be happier in terms of image quality, handling, and features. I’ve often thought the X-T20 is what a V4 should have been, except that Nikon would try at least initially to sell it for at least $600 more.

It is great to hear that you found gear that is well suited to your style of photography – that is always key! I agree that the Nikon 1 system was challenged when it came to photographing in low light situations.

Your articles and photos convinced me to jump into some N1 gear a year or so back. I did so knowing full well this line was “dead-man walking” and it has been worth it for the 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6 alone. I am very pleased with the results plus ability to hand hold it on a J5 or V2. I have several excellent bird shots that I would have never got with my D500 setup simply because I can leave my N1 gear near the back door ready to capture some bird in the field. Same with back-road travel – it’s a small setup always at the ready sitting in the truck console or on my lap. That cannot be said about my DSLR + tamzooka setup.

I also learned that I much prefer a non-mirrorless camera and its optical viewfinder. Having both the J5 and V2 (along with my legacy DSLR bodies), I now better understand the tradeoffs involved with mirrorless kit and did so without a ton of money being spent.

Thank you for sharing your experiences and shots. I am a better photographer because of your work and I very much appreciate that.

Thank you for sharing your experiences and comparisons with Nikon 1 gear and DSLRs! There are trade-offs with every piece of camera gear and the key is for each of us to find the kit that best meets our individual needs. For me, that has been Nikon 1. Shooting with the system has helped make me a better photographer. I find that my Nikon 1 gear doesn’t ‘get in the way’ of my creativity and has allowed me to follow my creative impulses.

Hello I recently bought the Nikon1 V3 + viewfinder, i’m using it with the new Nikon 300mm F4E VR, and it gives great results especially for wildlife photography Moreover it’s much lighter than the equivalent (810 mm F4) in DSLR, and the controls ans ergonomy are quite close So I confirm it’s sometimes woth buying discontinued models :)

I’ve never used the Nikkor 300mm f/4 so I have no personal experience to share. From what I have heard I would imagine that it would be sharper than the CX 70-300 and having one additional stop of light would be quite helpful. On a personal basis I would miss the focal length flexibility of the CX 70-300 mm.

Hi Zeissiez, For many folks the Sony RX100 VI would be an interesting camera. The zoom range of efov 24mm to 200mm would only cover a small portion of the focal length range available with Nikon 1 gear (i.e. 6.7mm to 300 mm, efov 18 mm to 810 mm). 16 frames per second is also below what Nikon 1 can do (i.e. 10 fps or 20 fps in AF-C, and 30 fps or 60 fps with the first frame locking focus). So, while the RX100 is certainly an interesting camera in its own right, it is rather restricted when it comes to specific capabilities that many Nikon 1 owners value. Tom

Tom, Always amazed – and a bit jealous – of the photos you have been showing over the years with the Nikon 1. The fact that you can get such quality with such a small setup makes me think, “Is there something wrong with Nikon?”

I literally stumbled into the Nikon 1 product line as a ‘second camera solution’ for my industrial video business. My buying criteria were pretty simple then: 1) I needed something that could use F-mount lenses and adjust aperture ‘on the fly’ while shooting video 2) be able to shoot video up to ISO-800 with minimal noise, and 3) meter like my D800 did. Since the Nikon 1 V2 could do those things I bought into the system. I couldn’t have cared less about the sensor size in the camera or the fact that it was mirrorless.

It wasn’t until I started to experiment shooting some stills with Nikon 1 native lenses that I began to appreciate its unique capabilities, especially given it diminuative size. I soon discovered that I could shoot my client video work with Nikon 1 primes without having to haul 5 or 6 studio lights around, and be at least 30% more time efficient. A light went off in my head and I had no trouble at all selling my D800 and all of my full frame glass, using Nikon 1 exclusively from that point on.

The fundamental problem with Nikon 1 was that Nikon did not adequately demonstrate the capabilties of the system. I think many people got fixated on the size of 1″ CX sensor, decided they hated the system because of it, and never really gave it a chance. Some other folks used the system expecting that they could approach post-processing Nikon 1 RAW files in the same manner as they had with larger sensor cameras, and as a result were disappointed.

All of that is water under the bridge now since the Nikon 1 system has been discontinued. Since there is nothing on the market that even comes close to meeting my specific needs as well as Nikon 1 does, I’ve added lots of gear to my kit over the years so I’ll be happily shooting with the system for many years to come. Sometimes I feel like I have my own little camera store when I do my regular system cleaning on my 8 Nikon 1 bodies and 17 lenses. :-)

No need to ditch my V1/J1 cameras just because Nikon has discontinued Nikon 1. For me they still fulfill an important role as social cameras where their diminutive size and white bodies allow me to mix more easily and make me look less geeky than I do with my pro DSLR’s.

Side note: Is anyone else as frustrated as I am with the new scripted video ads running on Photography Life? They literally lock up my browser for thirty seconds at a time while re-loading themselves to play every few minutes. Can’t type, can’t scroll, what a pain!

Hi Tom, Well I don`t think that any of us are surprised at the demise of a perfectly good system as Nikon declared a while ago that they were only interested in `top end products` whatever that means.Like yourself the system suites my needs and my style of shooting than anything larger especially wildlife where agility gets me shots that would otherwise be much harder to get.All I will do is add to system while it is possible and just keep taking pictures,isn`t that what it`s all about when all said an done!The only thing that concerns me is the arrogance of the company to suggest before the launch of their new mirror less cameras that even though they are late to the party there is no problem as professional photographers do not use any of the current offerings from companies who already have an established range of products!The other thing that is of concern is that they could not successfully market the 1 system which is inexcusable in my book,my own view is that it might have affected the sales of their entry level dslr`s particularly for wildlife.Give me the choice of a D3***/70-300 or V3,70-300cx and only people who have used the 70-300 cx will come to the decision that the cx is a far superior optic.What a great opportunity missed for the people who shoot wildlife on the `fly` to get great results without the backache. So Thom keep up the good work and don`t buy up all of the remaining gear as there are a few of us who still know what it is capable of, Stuart. p.s. yes the 300 pf does work very well on the V3.

I came to the same conclusion as you did when Nikon announced their new strategic direction to focus on ‘high value’ (i.e. more expensive) products. So, like you I’m not surprised that Nikon 1 was discontinued. When I committed to shooting with Nikon 1 exclusively back in July 2015 I began adding components to my kit to ‘future proof’ it as best I could. You don’t have to worry about me ‘buying up all the remaining gear’. With 8 Nikon 1 bodies and 17 lenses I think I have enough gear to last for many more years of enjoyable use.

When I’m out shooting with one of my V-Series bodies and the CX 70-300 mm I regularly have other photographers ask what I’m using, especially after I run off a fast AF-C run. Most of them know next to nothing about the Nikon 1 system and when they have a chance to feel how light and responsive my kit is they are quite impressed. Too bad Nikon missed the boat marketing the system effectively.

I will always be interested in what you have to show and say so photography continues and lives on even after a certain system is discontinued. In my case, I had to dispose off my Nikon full-frame and APS-C bodies due to personal reasons and that paved the way to re-assessing whether I need a lighter system since I’m no longer actively shooting for magazine assignments. After 12 years of using Nikon camera, lenses and speedlights, I made the shift to Sony APS-C while using some of my remaining Nikkor prime lenses. These suit my needs and I’m happy regardless of brand of system. To each his own. As you said in your post, it’s not as if the camera and lenses will cease to operate just because someone in Japan pushed the stop button :D

Hi Oggie, Thank you for adding your experiences to the discussion! When our gear meets our needs – then all is good! Like you, I’ve been transitioning through various phases of my career – and my Nikon 1 kit is along for an interesting ride. Tom

Hi Thomas, it’s been a while. Great article, you’ve pretty much said it all and covered everything. If I was using that system, I think I would consider that cameras tend to break before lenses do, so I would have to be covered with a spare body at least, so I could continue using those lenses. Then, there is the accessory market. All sorts of things made for this system will start to disappear now, so as you said, time to reassess your needs, and if you can, your future needs, and grab these things while they are still available. Then of course, lenses. You may already be fully covered, but if there is ‘one’ that you still need to get but have held back due to costs, now may be the time, again, before they vanish from the new market. Eventually you’ll have to go for used products as production has ceased, so if you intend to stick with a system, and it has to be said, you seem to love this one, and the results you get are simply wonderful by the way, your choices are more restricted.

I’ll be sticking with my DSLR for now, as Nikon do tend to put out a new body every couple of years, for each line. Some have said the D850 may be the last high end DSLR that we will see, in a pre mirrorless Nikon era, but that remains to be seen. In a sense, we already have mirrorless Nikons, albeit restricted to LCD use in live view, but the mirror is UP as they say, and the benefits of that are mostly there. Then, there are the lenses. Professionals and enthusiasts are NOT going to be very pleased with a company that suddenly drops the entire DSLR product, leaving you with lenses that, in some cases, cost many thousands of dollars. I am most inclined to think that Nikon will emerge with a mirrorless body, compatible with the current lens range. That is the only thing that makes sense. Same argument goes for Canon too, and the rest.

This is speculation, but where else can they go? The consumer cameras are all but gone now, anyone who wants to progress and use a proper camera that you can’t take calls on will be looking at these products. The issue is, once the mirrorless age is here, completely, Nikon will be competing with a lot more than just Canon.

Competition is seen as a good thing for the consumer, with price control being the big benefit, but also for the manufacturer, who has to innovate his products. Where will it all end? I think I will play the Ostrich game for now, and hold onto my D810 and lenses and accessories for a very long time to come. Anything I can’t get from that camera, quite honestly, I don’t need, there seems nothing it can’t tackle, as long as you learn how to set it up intimately and instinctively. No good if you have to keep getting the manual out is it!

I hope your system continues to give you pleasure and those great results for a very long time. By the time you may need to re-evaluate, the mirrorless war will have ended, and you can purchase without fear.

As far as trying to ‘future proof’ my Nikon 1 kit, I’ve been doing that since I made the decision back in July 2015 to sell my D800 and all of my F-Mount lenses and shoot with Nikon 1 exclusively. At this point I have three V2s that I use for client video projects, two V3s that I use for birding and nature photography, and three J5s that I use for everything else. They are supported with over 20 batteries and a comprehensive selection of 17 or 18 (I’ve lost count) 1 Nikon lenses. I own additional copies of some of the more important lenses for my shooting like the CX 70-300 mm and the 30-110 mm. I’m planning to use this gear for at least the next 5 years.

I think it will take some time, but eventually we will see DSLRs disappear. No doubt Nikon will have some kind of adapter that will allow people to use their F-Mount lenses on Nikon mirrorless bodies. This will help owners make the switch to mirrorless bodies over time.

As the fixed lens camera market continues to erode, I think we’ll see more specialized fixed lens cameras that don’t compete directly with Smartphones. The Nikon P1000 is a good example of that.

I completely agree with you that one of the most important things is to know and understand the gear we currently own so we can get the most utility from it. Many people change their camera gear far more often than is really needed.

Hi jenzh, I agree that Nikon 1 bodies do not dissipate heat as quickly as needed when shooting video and they will overheat after about 15-20 minutes of continuous use. Since I typically shoot very short clips for my industrial video projects, i.e. between 6 and 10 seconds each, this shortcoming was never an issue for me. I’m glad that the Lumix camera is doing a good job for you. Tom

I bought into the Nikon 1 system somewhat belatedly earlier this year. I love it although my 1 V3 and electronic viewfinder are away with Nikon being repaired at the moment as the viewfinder keeps refusing to activate automatically. I have read on the internet of many others having this problem too. I hope that Nikon can fix it – maybe a firmware update? The service centre told me that they could not identify the problem at first so fingers crossed. I hope that Nikon continue with firmware updates now that these cameras have been discontinued.

I also have a D850 and lenses a snap shooting D3400 and lenses. The D3400 is surprisingly good and in many circumstances can be all one needs. I am pleased to see that although Nikon may be concentrating on “high end”, they have just brought out a D3400 update in the shape of the D3500 which seems much the same but slightly smaller and with an improved battery life.

I find that the quality of the Nikon 1 lenses is outstanding and the quality of the pictures produced is tremendous despite the size of the sensor. I wish that I had discovered the system before but I was put off by the sensor size and by rather dismissive comments in the press and by the high prices. I had experimented with Sony and Panasonic 1″ sensor cameras before going Nikon 1 but never really got on with them.

I have been trying to find more Nikon 1 equipment to buy but it seems to be very rarely for sale now both new and second hand. My V3 outfit was refurbished and like new. I think that people who already own the system appreciate its benefits and are hanging on to their equipment.

Now, there is the new Nikon Z system and I expect that it will be excellent. I wouldn’t buy a Z camera yet because there may be bugs to iron out but I am open to investigating the new system. Nikon seems to be very excited by it and are pushing it as ” the future”.

The 1 system is so convenient and good. I wish that Nikon had been more aggressive with it and not just given up. Perhaps, we can hope that they will bring it out of mothballs and rejuvenate it at some stage if enough of us tell them how good it is.

Thanks for adding to the discussion by sharing your experiences with various camera gear. I think the Nikon 1 system wasn’t even considered by many people because of its sensor size, and Nikon didn’t do a very good job explaining some of the advantages of the system.

I’m not surprised that you are finding it difficult finding new or used Nikon 1 gear. I get all kinds of emails from readers telling me that they intend on keeping their systems for as long as possible. Most seem to be looking to add to their kit with good, used gear.

Thanks for adding to the discussion by sharing your experiences with various camera gear. I think the Nikon 1 system wasn’t even considered by many people because of its sensor size, and Nikon didn’t do a very good job explaining some of the advantages of the system.

I’m not surprised that you are finding it difficult finding new or used Nikon 1 gear. I get all kinds of emails from readers telling me that they intend on keeping their systems for as long as possible. Most seem to be looking to add to their kit with good, used gear.

Just in case you were able to review my two earlier (almost identical) comments on other articles, I want to ask you if it is even worth for someone like me, who has gotten so late into this game to invest into this system at this point in time.

Of course, my J5 was a recent gift that came with stock 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 PD Zoom but after reading your other articles (older) I was excited to add few more lenses and such to my kit and then, I chanced upon this article. It has left me more confounded than ever. Your expert guidance will surely come handy. Just fyi I am moving from Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ50 and primarily interested in shooting Architecture, urban landscapes and Skylines. Occasionally works also like to do portraits of little children and old people.

Investing in a discontinued system is something that should not be taken lightly. At some point if your gear requires repairs this will no longer be possible. I’ve been adding to my Nikon 1 kit for the past number of years to future proof it as best I can. Many other Nikon 1 owners have been doing the same thing. You’ll need to decide whether you like the system enough to take a risk in terms of downstream repairs. On a personal basis, there is no other system on the market that meets my specific needs as well as Nikon 1 does, so I had no hesitation in buying more gear.

Due to my schedule I only write one or two articles a month for Photography Life. Here is a link to a posting on my blog that you may find of interest in terms of Nikon 1 gear suggestions: tomstirrphotography.com/sugge…components

Really wow, given that it is very early in the morning in your part of the World, I never expected to hear from you so quickly. Thanks a ton. I totally understand where you are coming from.. Should I buy backup camera bodies just in case, or not yet? These past few weeks that I’ve had this camera I really like it.

Hi Kayenn, If you can find a good, used V2 you may find this to be a better camera than the V3, especially if you have any intention of using a Nikon 1 flash or a microphone with a V-Series body. The V2’s auto-focus is also slightly quicker than the V3. I am an early riser and already finished my morning exercise routine when I read you comment. I always try to be as responsive as I can for readers. Tom

Really wow. Given its 5.45 am your response was quick and totally unexpected. Thanks a ton. I think I will add a couple of items per your suggestion and another camera body just as a backup possibly another J5 or V3 if I get a good deal. Any other input will be truly valued.

Hi Kayenn, If you can find a good, used V2 you may find this to be a better camera than the V3, especially if you have any intention of using a Nikon 1 flash or a microphone with a V-Series body. The V2’s auto-focus is also slightly quicker than the V3. I am an early riser and already finished my morning exercise routine when I read you comment. I always try to be as responsive as I can for readers. Tom

The FT-1 adaptor does not have any glass elements in it so it does not have any negative effect on image quality. Many Nikon 1 owners use the FT-1 adaptor on a regular basis. There are some limitations when using it with F-Mount lenses, the primary one being that you will be limited to one focus point in mid-frame that cannot be moved. Since Nikon 1 bodies have a 2.7X crop factor you will have to multiply the focal length of F-Mount lenses by this factor to determine the equivalent-field-of-view. For example, a 28 mm F-Mount lens would have an equivalent-field-of-view of 75.6 mm when used on a Nikon 1 body. Not all third party lenses (e.g. Sigma and Tamron) lenses are compatible with the FT-1 adaptor.

There really is no special trick or skill in using the FT-1 adaptor. I found that it worked well during the time that I owned one. In July 2015 I sold all of my full frame Nikon camera gear as I decided at that time to shoot exclusively with Nikon 1. Since I no longer had any F-Mount lenses I sold my FT-1 adaptor as I no longer had any use for it.

Comment Policy: Although our team at Photography Life encourages all readers to actively participate in discussions, we reserve the right to delete / modify any content that does not comply with our Code of Conduct, or do not meet the high editorial standards of the published material.